Preventing a tragic outcome for victims of sextortion is the goal for one woman as cases continue to rise in New Zealand.

Netsafe’s chief customer officer, Leanne Ross, is still haunted by a case in 2015, where a young schoolboy in Ireland killed himself after being tricked into sending photos to a Romanian man who he thought to be a girl.

Ross, who is from Northern Ireland, recalls the case of Ronan Hughes, 17, ​ who was blackmailed by Iulian Enache​ who threatened to send the images to his friends if the schoolboy didn’t pay a ransom.

Despite Hughes’ pleas, the photos were sent to his friends with some being shared online; hours later the 17-year-old took his life.

This is what Ross wants to avoid here in New Zealand and encourages victims to seek help.

“It can feel so huge, so overwhelming and potentially so frightening to go to parents or a trusted adult...but we will believe you,” says Ross.

“We need to avoid that kind of tragedy coming to our shores from the rise of this.”

Sextortion in New Zealand has been on the rise for the last few years, with an 88% increase in reports received by Netsafe since 2019 and nearing 100 per cent, says Ross.

She believes this is just the “tip of the iceberg” as the crime is underreported.

“That’s just the people reporting, imagine how many people aren’t even telling us they’re victims.”

Sextortion is where offenders target victims, as young as 10 and as old as 65 in New Zealand, by tricking them into sending sexually explicit material before blackmailing them – threatening to share the content unless they pay money.

Warning signs are "love bombing” showering the victim in compliments and sending intimate photos first, Ross said.

“These scammers are some of the most clever we see, often they’ll pretend to be someone that the victim already knows such as a cousin of a friend, and they’ll then duplicate that person’s profile.”

“But this is not their [the victims] fault. These are criminals, often based overseas and are very manipulative.”

Ross says the victims shouldn’t feel any shame.

“This is a crime that is hauntingly shameful, and we need to wrap around our young people and say, ‘it’s ok we will not judge you, we will help you’.”

Ross says as long as parents, trusted adults and teachers can create a safe and open environment, young people will go to them and talk about it.

“Don’t assign blame and don’t remove devices.”

Ross says the removal of devices will feel like punishment to young people and a stripping away of their connection to the world.

If victims don’t feel comfortable talking to an adult, they can report it straight to Netsafe confidentially online.

Netsafe can direct people to an emerging a tool that searches online platforms and instantly removes intimate images shared online or duplicated by the offenders.

Detective senior sergeant Kepal Richards, officer in charge of the Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand team (OCEANZ), says police first began to see reports of sextortion in New Zealand in late 2021.

On average 53 reports a month have been made to police between December 2022 and June, says Richards.

He says that while offenders are generally living overseas, which makes investigating this crime “extremely challenging,” police in New Zealand make referrals to international law enforcement agencies.

”It is still important however that victims come forward, so we can work with them to ensure they get the advice and support they need.”

How to report sextortion:

• If you are in immediate danger ring 111
• Report the content to the platform, such as Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat and request it to be removed
• If you are under 18, and if you have copies of the material the blackmailer is threatening you with, you can use a free tool called Take It Down.
• If you are 18 or older contact StopNCII.
• Contact Netsafe on 0508 NETSAFE and the police via 105

-Catrin Owen/Stuff.